Bradley Douglas: 9.5 Month Update

What a crazy few weeks it's been. So many new things happening with my fat baby. He's now missed the 8 month and 9 month update, so we're at 9.5 months.

He's pretty adorable nowadays. He's become a little man. He can sit up like a professional; he can stand holding onto tables, couches, hands; he can sit in high chairs; he can say mama; he can (army) crawl anywhere he wants; he can walk when you hold his hands.

He's still the same ole Bradley, though: he is fat. He hates wearing pants, or any clothes. He loves to nurse. He flirts with waitresses, cashiers, international girls, babysitters.

He is learning to explore. He wants to touch everything that's not a toy. iPhones? Gimme. Outlets? Want it. Wine glasses? Let me have it. Magazines? I will rip them.

He will crawl into the tiniest spaces: in between the couch and the wall, in the cabinets, into boxes. He will crawl for attention, to chase after me in the bathroom or to get me to chase him.

His games are becoming more sophisticated: peek-a-boo is cool, but nothing is as fun as "I'm going to get you" which is a very slow version of tag. He loves to smack his big bouncy ball. He loves Where's Mom? which is a very basic version of hide-n-seek.

He has seven teeth: four up top (although the ones next to the front teeth grew in first) and three on the bottom.

He eats! We nurse twice in the morning, once at lunch, once after work and once before bed. He eats purees of carrots (meh), sweet potatoes (likes), squash (eh), green beans (hates! so we haven't done these again), peaches (loves), pears (loves), prunes (likes), and real servings of Gerber yogurt (LOVES!), avacado (likes), banana (likes), apples (loves), cucumber (likes), chicken (likes), ham (likes), spaghetti (likes), and whatever else. He is also in love with Gerber puffs, Gerber yogurt melts and these weird vegetable cheeto looking things for babies.

He is so smart! He understands when we leave. He went through a rough two week separation anxiety period where he would cry anytime we would leave. He's better now. Not happy, but he just fusses a little bit, then he is fine.

He understands how things work. He can flip through pictures on my iPhone, loves to pose for cameras, look at pictures of himself and knows when we're eating something. He wants to drink from my cup whenever I have a cup of water or juice. He likes to play with our dimmer lightswitch and the thermostat. He can press buttons on the DVD player (on/off, open/close). He can push buttons on his toys that sing. He loves his Rocktivity Center with all the drums and guitar and music.

He has two boxes of toys, and he loves to dump them out and play with toys. His favorite toys are his musical keys, tiny keyboard, miniature balls and blocks. He is crawling everywhere. He can crawl from one side of the room to the other, down the hallways, into the kitchen, into the bathroom, and he can stand alongside the couch and entertainment center. He can "cruise" while holding, but he refuses to. He always pivots to find someone's hand to help him walk. He is not independent in walking. He would prefer to be carried or to have hands to help him walk.

He is still very serious. We had professional portraits taken for Mother's Day, and there was only one picture with a smile. The smiling picture is adorable, but man, it took a long time. He just enjoys watching people, being inquisitive and pretty much judging the world. He investigates everything with his hands, and he likes to point or pet things right before he puts them in his mouth. He laughs, but you've got to be playing a game or be ridiculously silly (not too hard for two comedian parents).

He has just started waving. It's adorable! He loves to see people wave back.

His most reliable "trick" is growling. If you growl at him, he will growl right back. I can't handle how adorable this is. It's definitely weird. But I love it.



His only word is "mom" or "mama." And he means it. He is totally a mama's boy. He will search for me if he knows I'm home, and he wants to be in my lap or playing near to me if I'm on the floor. He always lights up when I walk in the room or come home from work. I would be lying if I said this wasn't my favorite thing about being a mom. I'm someone's number one person. It feels pretty awesome.

He sleeps through the night which has been awesome for many things: my own sleep, my sanity, my marriage, my workouts and my son because he wakes up reseted. He sleeps sometime between 6:30-8pm and wakes sometime between 6-7:30am. It is really awesome.

I am just having the hardest time keeping up with the updates for Bradley. I wish I was better. Perhaps I'm too ambitious to write every little detail, but I want to remember it all!